A Bleached Slate
by KnoxAingeal
Summary: **INDEFINITE HIATUS**When Ichigo defeated Aizen the Spiritual World was thrown out of balance, Ichigo's soul is dying and in order for balance to return he has to either leave his dimension or die. King Shinigami has taken a liking to the berry head, Kami did owe him a favor.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Alright guys, I haven't written a fanfic since I was like 14 so bear with me if my writing skills are kinda dodgy. While I find that there is enough NarutoxBleach crossovers, I have found very little if any at all where Ichigo is a ninja and I wanna change that god damn it! I wanna see some sword wielding hollow-ninjas!

A Bleached Slate

Chapter 1: Prologue

He had finally done it, Aizen was dead and the Soul Society was safe. Ichigo stood within the barren wasteland, contemplating death, the death of his life as a Substitute Shinigami. The berry-head scowled at the mere thought that he would never be able to fight again, to protect his friends and family. Just when he had come to the perfect alignment with his sword and hollow it was being taken away. . . It wasn't fair.

"**Ichigo."**

Ichigo broke away from his mental rant, taking glances around for who had spoken, but it was only him in the clearing. After a couple minutes past he decided to take a stab in the dark and just answer. It wasn't like he hadn't heard voices in his head before, what would be a new one?

"Yes?"

The deep voice chuckled, **"I was starting to think you weren't going to answer." **Just then, a white doorway appeared before him. Hesitating for a moment, Ichigo stepped back. **"Do not worry young soul. This door will lead to me, when you reach me, I will present you with a gift."** Still a little weary of what was ahead, Ichigo braced himself for a fight, grabbing his sword he headed for the mysterious voice.

As he entered the door and walked within the grey marble hallway he took notice to the weakening bond between him and his sword. 'I'll miss the old man Zangetsu.' The corridor he walked in was aligned with millions of portraits on the walls which reached so high they almost looked never ending as they faded into the warm fire light above.It had taken a few minutesbut he finally came to the end of the corridor which had lead him to large marble doors depicting the Sun that was guarded by angels armed with. . . swords? Shinigami? That's new.

It was a throne room; he didn't really have the energy to take notice to the small details. His power had taken a steep drop and it was getting harder to walk, he was moving all of the energy he had in moving closer to the throne and keeping his sword materialized by his side, he didn't want to let go. After walking became to straining he crumbled to the floor kneeling before the great throne and the man which sat upon it.

"**I see your sacrifice is finally starting to take toll. I know you don't have long Ichigo. You have destroyed a powerful spirit, and while evil it was, it put our spirit realm out of balance. You are losing your connection to the spirit realm of this world. If you don't leave, you will die." **

'Damn it! I wasn't supposed to die, just lose my spiritual power!' It was getting harder to breath for the teen, this being, his spiritual pressure was becoming too much to take for his dying soul. He was dying, he gave a straining laugh. "So what's the deal," He paused gasping for air. ". . .you can save me?"

The being stood up and walked down the steps from his throne to kneel next to Ichigo. He was younger than he expected. He looked in his early forties, short curly black hair with ancient blue eyes. The man gave off a warm feeling; it comforted Ichigo and distracted him from the pain of his breaking soul. The man smiled at the boy, **"Ichigo, you saved my Shinigami, you saved my humans, I can very much save you, but it will come at a price, you will move to a different spirit division, so that this one can regain its balance." **He took a pause to allow the boy to intake his words and spoke once more. **"The leader of this other spirit realm, Kami, has agreed to take you, but you will have no memories of this realm. Please take this opportunity Ichigo, you can start anew, you are a pure soul which in Kami's realm, they are in need of."**

His mind was in a blur but with the agreement of Zangetsu and his hollow he decided it would be a good offer to take. "I'll do it." The man stood and with a smile he waved him goodbye. **"Pleasant living Ichigo Kurosaki." **

The orange haired teen disappeared but two figures remained behind. The white one, being the more out spoken of the pair yelled, _"Oi! We're goin' with King to! We're part of his soul, his power, so I think that we should be included with that package, memories intact!"_ The hollow, dubbed Shiro by Ichigo, was very persistent when it came to him sticking around with the King. Without him, Shiro thought that Ichigo would be dead in the hour of living in a strange new world. "I agree." Zangetsu spoke firmly. The man laughed, **"Ha! Well, Kami never said that Ichigo couldn't have help, nor did he say the help couldn't keep their memories. I guess I can let it slip, besides, Kami owes me for helping him with some Bijuu anyways." **He said with amusement lacing his voice.** "Go on, but fair warning, Ichigo will have to grow back into his Shinigami and Hollow powers, his new life won't being at the age of fifteen, he's approximately at the age of five now." ** Shiro gave a large grin while Zangetsu remained stoic as they disappeared along with their king. _'Great, I can get started early on corruptin'. . er… teachin' the King!'_


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thank you guys for all the favorites, alerts and reviews. I love you all! Quick question, How do you all feel about time skips, I know some are necessary , but at what point do they become annoying to the reader? And have yall noticed how much the BLEACH art has changed from the 1st book to the newest chapter?

A Bleached Slate

Chapter 2: The man in the mask

ANBU was becoming to draining for the grey haired ninja, which was why he was waiting for the conference with the Hokage. After five years of constant working and brutal missions, it was enough. His was broken from his thoughts when Yuki, one of the hokage's assistants called him in for his appointment.

"Ah Inu, what can I do for you today?" Sarutobi said giving the man a warm grandfatherly smile. That was him, Inu, his identity since he was 16, the copycat ninja, Kakashi Hatake. Removing his ANBU mask Kakashi spoke, "If I may Lord Hokage, I think it's time for me to give up my post in ANBU, these missions are starting to take a lot out of me, and I think I would be more helpful to the village now, as a Jounin instructor." The old war veteran took a moment to take in Kakashi's words; he understood how difficult the job of ANBU was for he himself had been recruited within ANBU before. "I understand Kakashi, but you have to be sure of this, once you leave the ANBU and your mask is destroyed, you can never return to the ranks." The cyclopse gave a small smile beneath the cloth mask which hid the bottom half of his face. "I understand Lord Hokage."

"Very well, turn in your equipment and new Jounin uniforms will be given to you. Take a break son, the new genin recruits won't be graduating the academy until next month."

With that, the newly appointed Jounin went back to his apartment, he changed into some navy blue issued ninja pants and a black muscle shirt, it was time for a quick run.

The little Ichigo awoke with a jolt to silence. Taking in his surroundings all he could see were trees and grass. Being the determined five year old he was, he was going to see if there were any adults around, from what his small memory could serve him, adults equaled help. He scrunched his face up in struggled thought, how? He didn't know any adults, how could they help? He didn't take time to dwell on the thought when he saw someone across the small clearing.

The jounin came to an abrupt halt when he saw the splotch of orange that disrupted his run, _' Is that a kid?'_ He took note to walk calmly towards it, if it was a kid, or an animal, he didn't to scare whatever it was away. He took a pause to think_, 'It could just be a fox.'_ As he pondered this the little form started moving towards him, it was a kid! From what he could tell the little boy looked no less than five or six. The two slowly approached one another, both with curiosity on their minds.

Kakashi knelt down to look the child and question him with a worried tone, "Hey their little man, what are you doing out here all by yourself?" Innocent hazel eyes looked has his one onyx one and he shyly said,

"I don't know."

"Well do you know where your parents are?"

"No…"

"Do you know how you got here?"

"No…"

"Do you remember anything?"

Little Ichigo shook his head, a little intimidated by all the questions coming from the grey haired man. After the silent reply from the orange haired boy, Kakashi gave a long drawn out sigh. "I'm going to take you back to my village to see if we can get some help for you, ok?" Ichigo nodded and Kakashi picked him up carrying him on his shoulders. "Hang on tight little man, we'll be traveling fast and we don't want you flying off." Ichigo's eyes widened and he scrambled atop the man's head to get a tight grip, unfortunately for the ninja, it was his hair.

"You can call me Kakashi, ok?" The boy nodded and gave a bright smile.

"I'm Ichigo!" he said with a happy giggle, and with the wind and the leaves they were off towards Konoha.

Sarutobi was stumped, _'So this kid just what, fell from the sky?'_ Ichigo was happily playing with the ladies that worked within the building while both the Hokage and Kakashi discussed the details of what would happen to him.

The copycat was not happy with what his superior was saying, all that could be done was to put the boy within one of the villages orphanages until he would be adopted. "I'll take him." was his quick and stern reply. He couldn't let the kid go there, after all once he is old enough to make his own decision on what he wants to do the ninja would let him. Secretly Kakashi saw Ichigo as ninja material, he had taking an instant liking to the boy and would gladly train him.

"Alright Kakashi, I trust your judgment on this." With a smile the old man added, "I know that look, and don't train him too hard, or expose him to those dirty books." "Heh, I understand Lord Hokage,"

"and don't be so harsh about the books I know you read them too." Kakashi added giving a small chuckle.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: So I know I haven't posted in like three weeks, I'm so sorry! So last time some of you were complaining on how short the chapters were, so I decided that I'll have a nice long sit and write for yall.

P.S. Say thanks to Purple Pallbearer, because their alert reminded me to post this today.

A Bleached Slate

Chapter 3: Routine and hidden power

* * *

><p>Ichigo was astounded to how large the village actually was. As we walked alongside Kakashi he asked multiple questions about the people, the village itself and if the food was tasty or not.<p>

"Why are their people walking around with the same clothes as you? Do you guys not have more than one clothes store?"

The grey haired man have a chuckle, " It's _clothing store_ Ichigo, not clothes store, and they're ninja like me. This uniform is the standard for chunin and jounin ninja." As Kakashi finished the short explanation Ichigo's small face lit up with more questions.

"What do ninja do? Are they important? Why isn't everyone wearing the same clothes?"

The jounin was bombarded with questions, "Ichigo! Ichigo! Calm down, let me answer before you continue with the questions, ok?" The boy nodded his head and with a deep intake of breath, Kakashi began answering. "A ninja is a type of warrior. . . or a soldier for their village. We protect our village and go on missions to help the village and others; So I guess you can say we are important. I mean without ninja, how would the villages protect themselves, well I guess there is the samurai, but anyway. All ninja have a special ability, we are able to access a special energy called chakra. Chakra is the energy from within us and outside of us, not everyone wears these clothes because there are a large amount of civilians, or non-ninja in the village as well. These non-ninja can't use chakra. We use chakra to perform jutsu, but that can be explained later, if you're interested?" The last statement was only to bait Ichigo's curiousity and it seemed to have worked, the boy's face contorted into something that seemed as he was thinking as hard as he could.

A silence overcame the two after that, Ichigo was lost in thought while Kakashi looked a bit worried. The idea of him taking care of a five year had just hit him.

' _What was I thinking! I can't take care of a kid! I'm a ninja for God sake, what if I accidently kill him or something, what if I forget to feed him like that fish I got from Gai! Oh… I still owe him five ryo for that.. GOD I CAN'T DO IT!'_

He shook his head of the negative thoughts when he saw his apartment complex. The duo took a couple flights of stairs to reach the Hatake residence, but it was good exercise, for Ichigo.

Out of breath Ichigo walked into the rather cozy living room and plopped himself onto the sofa. After he regained his bearings he began to take a look around. The apartment consisted of a kitchen connected to a breakfast nook; then separated by a wall, led to the living room which he sat in. From his spot he would see a balcony across from him and behind he saw a small hallway which he guess led to a bedroom and bathroom.

"Kakashi?"

"Yes Ichigo?" he man called from the kitchen, he was making a meal for the two of them seeing as he didn't eat today, and well, he didn't know the last time Ichigo ate. "I need to use the bathroom!" he heard the boy call back to him. The Cyclopes walked toward the bathroom motioning Ichigo to follow. He walked into the bathroom, intending to help his newest ward but when he turned around he received the most vicious glare a five year old could give.

"I can do it myself!" he ran from the door way and attempted to push Kakashi out. Seeing that he wasn't needed, the copy-cat nin made his way back to the kitchen.

The two settled down at a small wooden table, both eating a cup of instant ramen, while Kakashi was a man of many talents, cooking wasn't one of them. They sat eating for a bit before Ichigo interrupted the silence among the two, "Kakashi, you mentioned before that there were ninja and samurai, and that they both can protect the village. What's the difference between the two?"

"Well a samurai relies more on the art of the sword rather than chakra, while a ninja does the opposite." "Can ninja wield swords?"

"There is the seven swordsman of the mist, and they also use chakra, so yes ninja can wield swords."

The boy thought for a moment, thinking about his next words.

"I want to be a ninja who uses a sword. The first great sword ninja of. .. What's this village called again?"

With a smile the man across from him replied, "Konoha."

"Heh, right. Konoha! I want to be the first swordsman ninja of Konoha!"

* * *

><p>Seven years later (Don't worry flashbacks will occur)<p>

* * *

><p>Ichigo had been with Kakashi for almost seven years now. He'd been training with his adoptive brother since he was five alongside his training at the academy. The pre-teen was still striving to become a ninja and a swordsman, but he still hadn't found the right sword for him. All of them were either too weak, too light; too short, too long, none of them fit. Today he had a feeling though, that he was going to find it. Though he didn't know how, it would be in the most unlikely way, it was going to speak to him.<p>

He had begun his day as normal; he sat down with Kakashi and had light conversation.

"So how's the academy going?" the older ninja questioned.

"Eh, I graduate this year and I've arranged it with Lord Hokage that I won't have to be on a genin team. I've asked to work with Hayate for a while with swordsmanship while I train still as a ninja with you."

"What about missions?"

"I'll tag along with a genin team, and you already send me off to complete D-ranks for you."

"Hmm."

The older ninja didn't seem like he was paying too much attention, seeing as he had a little orange book up against his face, as always.

"I hear you're getting another genin team, you gunna' fail them too?

"Most likely."

That is how the two's morning always began, after breakfast they went their separate ways for a few hours, Ichigo to the academy and Kakashi to his new temporary team.

The academy was boring to Ichigo, he was old beyond his years and regarded his classmates with little interest. They reviewed the transformation and the substitution jutsu, and spent the rest of the day sparing and working with kunai. Once class was released the pre-teen went to training ground seven to meditate and work on the new taijutsu form Kakashi was teaching him. It was mid-day and the sun was just overhead, deciding it would be hard to focus in the sun, Ichigo climbed a tree, settled himself on a branch and began meditating.

Closing his eyes, he went through the steps, relaxing your breathing, inhale, count to seven, exhale, count to seven. He continued his for a good fifteen minutes till he bagan to fade into his mind.

Every time he awoke within himself it would be the same place; the world if the sideways sky and buildings as the ground. He'd never seen buildings such as this, at least he can't recall and every time he looked inside a window he would see memories that were supposed to be his, people fighting with swords against creatures with masks. He searched through many windows but never found and memories that he could remember.

"**Ichigo. . ."**

A deep voice echoed around him, breaking him from his thoughts.

"**Ichigo, find us… You are ready for your true power."**

Ninja senses kicking into gear he reached for a kunai only to find there were none, only a red ribbon leading to Kami knows where taking their place. Grasping the ribbon tightly he followed. He walked deep into his mind, leading him over many different buildings, some broken, some chained and some that resembled the buildings of Konoha. He was hearing voices in his head and every ninja knew that wasn't a good sign. He looked down, following the ribbon until he came to the end.

"**Ichigo."** He was surprised he didn't break his neck to how fast he looked up. There, infront of him stood two people. One man who looked in his thirties in a black billowing cloak and sun-shades, the other looked about fifteen and as if he was dunked into a pool of bleach.

"_There yea' are little King! We were waiting for yur' ass to finally show up." _In any other situation he might of laughed at the idea of being called King, but here he was dumbfounded. Who were these people?

"**We are your power Ichigo, you wanted to be the strongest swordsman of Konoha yes? Well here is the opportunity to become that. Find the sword within your mind and you will earn the right to wield me."**

"_I'm just hear for the show in case you were wonderin'. I apparently don't come in till later."_ The albino flashed a smile and disappeared, with the man and black following.

After the two figures had disappeared and the building beneath him began to crumble. **"This is the only chance you are getting Ichigo, if you don't find me and you let the buildings crumble, you won't be able to access your hidden power."**

Hidden power? Well damn, he better get moving then.


	4. Chapter 4

A Bleached Slate

Chapter 4: Spirit Ribbons.

* * *

><p>The inner city of Ichigo's mind was crumbling around him at a fast rate. He jumped from collapsing building to collapsing building keeping his eyes open for the sword he was supposed to find. Once landing upon a stable part of his mind he allowed himself time to think.<p>

'Ok if I was a sword, where would I be? I mean not to brag or anything but my mind is freakin' huge, how the hell am I supposed to find one tiny little sword?'

While deep in thought the small ninja never took notice to the building crumbling beneath him and with a sudden lurch, he tripped between the cracked surface falling into the deep recesses of his mind. In order to stop himself he tried applying chakra to his feet only to realize he was moving too fast to grip the nearest surface. As he fell, he viewed a good dozen memories that were not his own. The particular memory that he was viewing showed a two teenagers, one with black hair and glasses and the other similar to him.

'_Did you know. . . That a Shinigami's spirit ribbon is red?' the orange-haired teen opposing him looked shocked, not fully comprehending what the teen in glasses was telling him. 'I am a Quincy, the one who holds the power to kill hollows.'_

'_Won't you fight me, Ichigo Kurosaki?"_

* * *

><p>The teen's name was Ichigo, like him, and what was a Shinigami, or a hollow? The ninja tried so hard to remember what came next but the thought eluded him. He knew that these memories were his, but why couldn't he remember them? He recalled to the dark haired teen in the memory, and what he had said. Something about a ribbon, a spirit ribbon. Maybe that this spirit ribbon stuff was like chakra, after all, each ninja has their own unique chakra maybe they each had some fancy colored ribbon as well. If he sensed two different ribbons he could follow the one that wasn't his and it would lead him to the sword. It made sense to him, until he actually tried it. Opening his mind's eye, and closing his own. He spread out his chakra and concentrated until he could sense something that at least resembled these so called spirit ribbons. What shocked him was when he opened his eyes he saw three ribbons, one black, one red, and one white. They all started from the center of his chest, and each spread out in a different direction. The black one, he knew, led to the section of his mind to where the Konoha buildings were, so he guess that was his chakra line. So he had to guess between the other two choices, red or white? Recalling the memory of the two teens he decided to go with the red one, hoping it would lead him to the sword. Discarding the black and white ribbon, he solely focused on the red one in front of him. It had taken a bit of strength to stop his falling by grabbing hold of the red lifeline, and quite a bit more to pull himself up from the abyss to regain his footing. On the path to the other end of the ribbon he became tense with anticipation.<p>

'I wonder what this sword will look like, and what hidden power he will gain by retrieving it.'

Coming to the end of the ribbon, he saw it. Shoved within the only building which wasn't crumbling was a long pitch black katana with a small chain on the end of handle. Walking slowly to the beautiful sword he gripped it firmly and pulled it from the stable building.

In an instant memories were shoved into his head, memories of fighting, training, war, Shinigami and Hollows. All throughout these memories he knew who he actually was, and who he fought, but not those who fought beside him. It was just him and his sword, Zangetsu. While the memories passed him by he noticed that pieces were missing, such as identities, names and other parts which seemed important and as soon as the images came, they stopped. He had a feeling there were more but didn't want to strain himself by gaining the full memories of a past life.

"**Congratulations Ichigo, you have regained your powers as a Shinigami, and some of the memories of your past self."**

The man in black stood before him still as stoic as he remembered.

"Old man Zangetsu, I remember you, Shiro and battling as a Shinigami, but why nothing else? There were people; I think they were friends, how come I don't remember then as well?"

"**When you left your past life as a Shinigami, your memories were taken from you as toll by the King of Shinigami, you know this. But what you do not know is that Shiro and I were able to keep these memories. The memories you see now are a combination of our memories through you. As we only care of you and you alone, the people around you did not matter, hence why you do not know."**

"I-I see."

It was the figure in whites time to make himself known.

"_Ah don't be all pissy about it King! Think abou' it this way. You can't go back, so what's the point in rememberin'? You got' a life here now yea?" _

Ichigo knew it wasn't like Shiro to cheer him up, so he guessed it must be pretty important to take the advice to heart, it didn't make him happy, but all he really knew was the friends he made here in Konoha, so why should it matter.

"Yea, you're right, thanks Shiro."

"_Eh don't get used to it." _The hollow replied bitterly.

* * *

><p>Ichigo faded from his deep meditation to find himself back in the peaceful training grounds of his village. Jumping from the branch he was on he looked to the sky to find that he had been sitting there for almost two hours. That was surprising. What also surprised him was that in his right hand was Zangetsu! The sword had managed to materialize itself within a physical plane rather than a spiritual one. A devious smile crept upon his face, he couldn't wait to show Kakashi.<p>

Later that evening. . .

Kakashi had been quite impressed with his new sword, when the jounin had asked to where Ichigo had bought it, he made a little white lie in saying that he had help forging it with the owner of Higurashi's, but a little lie never hurt anyone, after all he was a ninja.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Down here this time. I wanted to apologize on the rather shortness. . of this chapter but the next one will be longer I promise!**

**Next Chapter sneak peak: Three years later Ichigo is fifteen and a chunin, along with his adoptive older brother Kakashi, he will be helping train a genin team that actually passes the dreaded bell test.**

**Next time Chapter 5: The cyclopse, the berry-head, and team 7.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I don't think I can apologize enough for how long this has taken! A few of you have asked me when I would be updating and I haven't really given you a straight answer but today is the day! My longest chapter of A Bleached Slate.**

* * *

><p>A Bleached Slate<p>

Chapter 5: The Cyclopes, the berry-head, and team 7

To Ichigo, being a chunin wasn't all that bad. He knew around the village that a vast majority of the ninja population was chunin rank and they hated it. While they were able to lead C and B rank missions most wanted the high paying jobs that only jounin received. For today, Ichigo was very happy to be a chunin because he was able to help with one of Kakashi's new genin squads, Team 7.

Being friends with Iruka Umino, he was able to see the team roster before anything was announced so he had the opportunity to gather some information on the three genin, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha.

Haruno was a mess thus far; sure she was book smart, knew her information but had no physical skill what so ever. She did have potential, besides her lack of physical strength; she had excellent chakra control and could assess a situation quite quickly. He might suggest to Kakashi later on in the year that he put her through some minor genjutsu training and trap exercises. Unlike the Haruno, the Uzumaki had tons of physical strength to spare, from watching some of the kids training sessions he could tell that he could go on for hours on end. While he did have such large amounts of stamina, he was lacking in well, everything else. His taijutsu was rather average, and genjutsu was non-existent. Naruto only knew the basic academy justu such as the transformation and replacement, his only major jutsu was the Shadow Clone, which while an excellent justu he could execute it better. For Uzumaki, he would suggest to Kakashi that he be trained in short range ninjutsu and infiltration work.

The Uchiha, while skilled, need a lot of work on his state of mind. The dark haired kid was quite skilled in taijutsu techniques, and held a decent amounts of ninjutsu under his belt, his genjutsu was non-existent as of yet and had minimal skill with weapons, as did Naruto. Over time of analyzing the famous last Uchiha he knew that the boy was troubled, and he didn't mean troubled as having voices in his head like he did, but troubled to the point where is only goal in life was to kill his last remaining family in cold blood. The boy of merely twelve only drive to become stronger is revenge, he knew Kakashi, and Kakashi would ignore this when it needed immediate attention; he would see to it.

* * *

><p>Listening from outside the hallway, Ichigo heard each team called by Iruka. The teams were called and students left giving Ichigo curious stares and questioning him if he was their sensei, pointing them in the right direction he waited for team seven to be called.<p>

While the berry-head didn't enjoy his adoptive brothers constant tardiness, though living with him for over ten years that particular habit had rubbed off on him even if a minimal amount. He knew the young pre-teens would be agitated but that kept things entertaining.

'_Oi! King, if you really wanna agitate em, why don't you just leave em so they can wait for the cyclopse?'_

'Dealing with that lazy ass will be hard enough as it is, I figured I would cut them a break on their first day, besides, if I walk in they'll just assume I'm Kakashi and will be in for a big surprise when he shows up for their 'test' tomorrow.'

'_Eh whatever you say King.'_

He took a quick sigh and walked into the classroom. It was a moment of silence which alerted Ichigo first that something was wrong. Looking up he dodged the falling eraser with ease.

"Was that supposed to hit me?" he said in a lazy voice mimicking the way his brother usually addressed people. The orange clad genin looked annoyed and shouted, "Well obviously"! The Uchiha behind him gave an amused grunt and the pink haired genin looked at Ichigo curiously. "Are you Hatake-sensei?"

"Yea, meet me on the roof."

* * *

><p>It was a breezy fall day which was enjoyable for not only the ex-shinigami but the three genin as well. The four sat in silence for a bit while enjoying the current weather, well, at least Ichigo was, the three genin stared at him impatiently.<p>

"Ok, why do you guys introduce yourselves. Ya know, likes, dislikes, plans for the future and all that crap."

"Well sensei, shouldn't you go first, so we know what do?", the only girl of the team stated… 'Always the perfect student.' The chunin thought to himself. 'You'd think she could use her own brain without a push of an academy teacher.'

Giving a dramatic sigh he replied, "And here I thought that you three were newly graduated, perfectly capable genin. Do you still need your little hand held like a little academy student?" Blushing, Sakura gave a quick reply of no and became instantly captivated by her shoes. Naruto being a hard head and proving to show his affections for the female genin rushed to her defense.

"Is it against the law to ask a question now? She was being polite! I'm ninjas got to ask questions right!" he stood inching closer and closer to 'Hatake-sensei' challenging him face to face. Now, Ichigo was never one to back down to a challenge, even if it was from short psychopathic twelve year olds.

"So what if it is shorty?" the berry-head had his temper blazing, just as stubborn as the boy before him.

"Well that's stupid!"

"Then so are you if that is the only thing you can come up with!"

He was quickly losing patience with the kid so he took the next best option besides pulverizing him, picking the pre-teen up and hoisting him over his shoulder. Apparently Naruto didn't like that too much as he began to struggle slamming fists into Ichigo's back.

"Hey! Put me down you crazy orange haired idiot!"

'Damn he almost blew out my ear.' He flexed his muscles within his arm forcing a tighter grip around the boy leaving him gasping for air. . . and silent.

"Now listen up you brats, you are going to sit there, shut up, listen with those little ears of yours and speak when addressed to." He growled slipping a distorted Hollow voice within the sentence. He dropped Naruto back in the line of two and went back to his spot of sitting upon the railing of the roof.

"Now," his eyebrow still twitched from remaining annoyance, "Brooding one, I haven't even heard you speak yet, you're up first."

Sasuke took this opportunity to bless them with the great words of the Last Uchiha. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I dislike a lot of things and don't particularly like anything. My ambition is to restore my clan and kill a certain man."

"Well you're a big bottle of happy aren't you sunshine?" the boy didn't reply but settled with the infamous Uchiha glare.

'_He probably shits rainbows too.'_ Ichigo had to catch himself from laughing as Shiro voiced his opinions.

"Ok pinkie, you're up next." Sakura, at first nervous to speak remained silent till she gathered enough courage to speak.

"Ok well, I'm Sakura Haruno and the thing I like is… well the person I like is…and my plans for the future are…" The young genin could barely get anything out; she had her eyes on the dark haired boy beside her and a blush still creeping onto her face.

"I dislike NARUTO!" At the mention of the Uzumaki kid Sakura's mood went from fan-girl to an absolute rage. Now mentioning her hobby she took another glance at Sasuke and again not giving complete sentences.

'_I think my ears be bleedin' king. I pick weak little humans like her outa my teeth!'_

'Shiro, you've never even eaten a human, how would you pick them out of your teeth?' the teen replied amused at the hollow's antics.

"Thanks pinkie, that was so very informative. Alright shorty you're up." The blonde was still agitated at Ichigo stood up to his full height which was about 4'3 and announced loudly.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm going to be Hokage one day and earn everyone's respect! I'll be the greatest ninja ever and when I'm Hokage you're going to be assigned to the worst job ever!"

The orange-haired ninja scoffed at the ranting boy, "Anything else blondy?" Naruto was a bit surprised at how calm the chunin was compared to his hot-headed attitude earlier and replied, "Oh, uhm, I like ramen."

'_You got yourself a bunch of geniuses dontcha king?'_

"Alright you guys, tomorrow will be you're really genin test, a survival exam, don't eat anything or you'll puke." Ichigo wanted to keep the explanation simple because Kakashi, their senior sensei will probably explain more. The three seem shocked at the statement but quickly acknowledged him with a stiff set of nods.

* * *

><p>Kakashi walked into the academy building as lazily as if he had just risen from bed. Coming to the door which separated him from his team he gave a silent prayer before walking in. "Please don't be as stupid as I expect you guys to be." The jounin slid the door open only to find that his team was missing, he instantly knew why… Ichigo. He didn't mind though, he smiled fondly at the thought of his younger brother and a couple past memories that came to mind.<p>

(FLASHBACK)

"No Kashi! I don't wanna!" The child whined loudly flailing his limbs twisting around in the tight hold that the ninja had on him.

"Ichi," he paused struggling to keep ahold of the boy. "You need to take a bath!"

"NO!" He had managed to slip through Kakashi's grasp and ran out of the washroom to find a hiding place within the house. Kakashi sighed standing up quickly catching himself from falling in the spilt water caused by the big bundle of orange mischief.

"Running around soaking wet and naked isn't very ninja like Ichigo." He was trying to bait the boy into talking but the kid was smart. He remained silent but Kakashi, being a ninja of his caliber found the trail of water . With quick reflexes he grabbed the boy before he could make a run for it.

Ichigo sat pouting in the tub defeated while Kakashi took the task of washing his orange locks. "I hate baths…" he squeaked. The ninja laughed, "Well you're going to hate them even more because you have to take one every day."

(FLASHBACK)

* * *

><p>Kakashi took his time to find where his adoptive brother had skipped off to, he knew that his genin team was probably already dismissed and told of their task tomorrow. The jounin later found Ichigo on training field fifteen practicing with that mysterious sword of his. He received it three years ago supposedly from the Higurashi's weapons shop, but he wasn't too sure about that. The orange-haired chunin treated that sword as if it was a gift from Kami above, as if it was more valuable than life itself. When Kakashi had asked to hold the blade he saw a whole other side of Ichigo which he had never seen before, he never even knew Ichigo could be so intense about something materialistic as a sword. The teen had looked at Kakashi with cold indifference, with the eyes of a warrior. He told the jounin that no one was to even lay a finger on that sword but him.<p>

"Oi, Ichigo!" Turning from his wooden target he looked across the field to see his white haired brother. He sheathed his sword and jogged over to where the eldest Hatake stood.

"Hey, I figured you wouldn't mind so I took charge of your team for today."

"You told them of the bell test?"

"Of course, I mean I'm not as incompetent as you make me out to be." The cyclopse gave an eye smile and replied, " You know I only tease you, If I only complimented you I'm afraid your head wouldn't fit through the front door, maybe even the gates of the village." While the teen looked annoyed at the statement he gave a smirk to show his amusement.

"The day my head gets big is when yours explodes."

* * *

><p>It was the next morning and both Ichigo and Kakashi rose to continue their morning tradition of small talk and morning breakfast. The two dressed themselves in their standard uniform, Ichigo's being modified to suit his samurai style techniques. The sat within the kitchen, ate, and had a small conversation.<p>

"You know I told to the team to meet us at the field at six." Ichigo mentioned lazily to Kakashi who had his nose buried into the familiar little orange book.

"Yea I know."

"Alright, so I guess we'll go around eleven." The cyclopse gave a small nod, eleven it was.

Naruto sat next to his teammates with his head about to explode, their idiot sensei was five hours late!

"Ah I can't take it anymore! That guy is over five hours late and I could have eaten, trained and eaten again by now!"

Sasuke scoffed, "Calm down dead-last, it's probably just a test of our patience and being you, you probably failed."

"Shut up bastard! Nobody asked you!"

Sakura took this chance to bravely defend her precious Sasuke. "Oh shut up Naruto, Sasuke will always be better than you so that means he can state his opinion any time he wants!"

"It seems we came just in time, pinkie and shorty are about to have a cat fight." The three genin recognized the sarcastic laced voice and turned to see their "sensei" accompanied by a taller jounin with white hair and his headband over his eye.

"Hmm, first impression is. . . I hate you all." The man in the mask stated. Sakura, already roweled up yelled loudly. "Hate us? You don't even know us, who are you anyway old man?" Faking surprise and pointing to himself, "Me? Didn't Ichigo tell you? I'm your jounin sensei Kakashi Hatake." Even Sasuke was dumbfounded at this revelation.

"Then who the hell is that?" yelled Naruto pointing at Ichigo.

"He's my younger brother, your teammate and co-sensei, Ichigo Hatake."

This time Naruto spoke directly to the chunin. "You liar, you told us that you were Kakashi-sensei!"

"Wrong. You asked if I was Hatake-sensei and I am. I am both a Hatake and your sensei. You never asked if I was specifically Kakashi." Deciding it was best not to continue in front of his actual sensei, Naruto remained quite after Ichigo's explanation.

"Alright," Kakashi spoke, "I guess it's time for that test now, you three will attempt to get these two bells from me, if you get them you pass, you have till noon. Be warned there is a sixty-sic percent fail rate, and I will not make this easy for you."

"But sensei, there are only two bells. If we have to get one to pass then one of us will fail." Ichigo smirked as the hollow within him remarked_, 'Well at least she can count.'_

"Correct Sakura, only two of you will be passing today, the one who doesn't get a bell will fail and get sent back to the academy. Now, amongst the field will be a series of traps and other hidden surprises that Ichigo has graciously set for us. I suggest you be cautious of them."

There was a moment of silence that was shared between the group of ninja when Kakashi suddenly broke it by shouting, "Begin!"

Sasuke and Sakura instantly went for cover. Naruto on the other hand, remained in the center of the field confidently opposing Ichigo and Kakashi. The two higher ninja shared a silent conversation and Ichigo went to have fun with the other two at the moment. The jounin of team seven faced Naruto and said, "Well I knew you were different from the other two." Naruto smiled at that, "But I didn't think that difference was stupidity." The smile on Naruto's face dropped instantly to a frown. "You're looking at the next Hokage, I'm going to get those bells and pass this test no problem!"

"Well come on then Hokage. . ." The jounin teased taking out his infamous orange book.

"Let's see what you can do."

* * *

><p><strong>Next time on A Bleached Slate: The Bell Test!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Posting a couple concept arts when I get the chance. I love you all! Happy New Year, don't hate me! I'm kind of shallow on reviews, makes me feel less motivated. . .**

* * *

><p>A Bleached Slate<p>

Chapter 6: The Bell Test

Kakashi truly didn't expect Naruto to hold his own. While the pre-teen did possess gigantic amounts of chakra and possessed Jonin rank stamina he lacked in almost everything else; his taijutsu was sloppy, his genjutsu nonexistent, and rather lacked in the ninjutsu department. He wasn't too worried about fighting the genin. Speaking of Naruto, Kakashi looked up to the genin who was fuming over him reading the infamous little orange book. "Ah! I'll show you! Don't underestimate me, Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Forming the correct sign he summoned a group of eight clones who ran their way toward the Jounin. Kakashi was prepared for the attack and kept the clones at bay, that is, until a couple snuck behind him. 'Well I have to give him credit, he does have a bit of potential, and with a bit of work he'd be quite skilled in tactical assassination and ambushing.' He quickly switched himself with one of the clones behind him, and then hid in the nearby tree tops still keeping an eye on the orange clad ninja.

* * *

><p>Ichigo on the other hand was currently chasing down the female of the team.<p>

'Oi, King! Why dontcha let me out for a bit, I wanna have fun to ya know?"

While Ichigo gave a sigh in annoyance he also had a small smile creeping on to his face at the antics of his hollow. He really didn't blame how bored the hollow got, being alone with Old Man Zangetsu for most of the time seemed like it would be a rather dull exsistance.

"I'll let you out but you need to keep your spiritual pressure under control, being a hollow it would feel similar to demonic chakra. I don't want Kakashi or any other skilled ninja within the next hundred miles to be alarmed."

'Alright, fine, whatever. Just let me out!'

"Say please."

'Wha? No! Who the hell do ya think I am, that pink bitch we're chasin'?'

"Come on. . . say it."

Shiro didn't speak for a few minutes so Ichigo stopped and sat silently on a tree branch.

"I'm not moving until you say please."

'You're being stupid! Come on just lemme out!'

"No." Ichigo said turning his head in defiance. The two shared a five minute silence when Shiro finally gave in.

'Shit! Fine. . . . Please." He mumbled.

The switch was instant and Ichigo's once brown eyes were now bore the familiar black and yellow glow. Shiro found these moments interesting. He was so used to being a sword baring hollow that the transition of a ninja was quite challenging to him, to act like a silent predator rather than a loud boisterous opponent he was used to being. As Ichigo learned the ways of the ninja he did as well, though he was proud that he was still a bit more creative with weaponry and jutsu than Ichigo, but he was glad that the king was strong. Kings are supposed to be strong.

Shiro quickly locked on to the strong emotions that were permeating the air from the pink haired ninja. She was stressed, nervous, and rather afraid.

'What a great ninja.' Shiro commented.

'Don't be too rough on her.'

'Yes King, don't worry.'

After he caught up to her, he saw that she was preoccupied with looking for the Uchiha.

'That damn brat, King could wipe the floor with him and that kid thought he was Kami's gift to the world.'

The albino really hoped he could find him to, to knock him down a few pegs. The hollow used a flash step to sneak behind Sakura about ten feet from her location. He drew his sword and used a genjutsu to turn himself into his original white color, his voice was already distorted into the hollow like growl so this should mentally scar the banshee for at least a few months.

He let loose a loud distorted laugh and he could see that girl in front of him jump at least three feet in the hair.

"AHHH!" she squealed and turned to see the living nightmare behind her. She quickly drew a kunai with a shaking grasp.

"Wh-who are you?"

"Oh come on, pinkie, you don't recognize your own sensei?"

"Ichigo?" she tilted her head to the side in confusion, lowering her kunai in the process.

"You can't be Ichigo-sensei! You look nothing like him!"

Shiro let loose a very hollow like chuckle, "Well you're not as stupid as you look, but still partially wrong. . I am Ichigo but I am also not."

"Then who are you?" she said raising her kunai once more to keep herself protected.

This time around Shiro let loose an all-out war cry that consisted of maniacal laughter of a crazed hollow.

"HAHAHHAAHAHA, DEATH!"

At the revelation Shiro drew his sword and jolted quickly towards the genin. Sakura, seeing this, did the only thing she really could do, she fainted. The hollow halted his potential onslaught of attacks to slow his pace and walk towards the girl. He nudged her with his foot then gave a 'tsk' of disappointment.

"Psh, well that was stupid."

Meanwhile, Sasuke was watching from the trees across the field.

'What is this guy? I can't even feel a hint of chakra but he just lets off this aura of danger. Maybe even worse than Kakashi does. I'll fight him, learn his secrets and then I'll make everyone know that I am strong!'

Sasuke threw a number of weapons towards the chunin then jumped into the clearing .

"Fire Style: Fire Ball jutsu!"

Fire erupted from his mouth, raining down upon the albino. Shiro figured Sasuke would make his first move flashy. He dodged the weapons easily and maneuvered around the fire jutsu with ease.

"Che, not to bad kid, but I'm still too far outa your league. You are nothing compared to me."

Sasuke remained silent to seen indifferent to the comment but any skilled warrior would have noticed Sasuke's fists clench in anger, and Shiro did very much notice.

Shiro felt slip in his control a brief moment and Ichigo's words poured out.

"Listen kid, I know you got somethin' to prove, we all do, but you're focusin' on the wrong thing. One day, if you become truly strong and if you want me to honestly take you seriously, fight hard. Fight hard enough to where I have to draw this sword, but until then, I'll have fun knockin' you on your ass."

While Shiro and Ichigo had an agreement to become the perfect partners, usually their walls of control were completely solid that neither could break through without each other permission. 'Damn King, 'ow did ya do tha'?'

'Don't worry about it Shiro, but listen, let me take the reins on this one, I told myself that I was going to break Sasuke. To completely crush his resolve to see if he truly wants revenge, and get that stick outa his ass in the process. It might take years but by Kami I'm going to do it.'

'Heh, yea sure King…'

Now back in complete control Ichigo bore down an intense glare then a gloating smirk.

"Well? Are you just going to stand there?"

Sasuke took his cue to launch a barrage of punches and kicks at the chunin. Ichigo, being trained by the best of Konoha, was able to block each one.

"Say Uchiha, how about I give a set of tips, to ya know, help yea out."

Sasuke thought that the berry-head was trying to distract him and continued to throw hits at the ninja. He didn't want to get roweled by his opponent but seeing how easily Ichigo blocked his punches he was headed towards anger.

" When you have been assigned a mission, don't let anyone distract you from your target. You've spent all this time watching and fighting me that you've been wasting precious time. Fighting me isn't the point of this test. Shouldn't you be trying to get a bell from Kakashi?"

When the genin faltered at the reminder Ichigo was able to grab Sasuke's ankle and launch him in the opposite direction.

"As I said before, I will say it again. Fighting me isn't the point of this test, I don't think you, nor Naruto or even Sakura know the true point of the test. You've been distracted and led astrat and for that you have most likely failed."

With that Ichigo teleported away back towards the center of the filed where Kakashi and Naruto were. He appeared behind his older brother who was still hiding in a tree. He held out a hand as if asking for a bell, which he was. Kakashi complied and handed a bell to the chunin. Ichigo then went to set up a quick trap and hid wait to see who would spring it.

* * *

><p>Kakashi noticed the position of the trap and was most likely going to have Naruto preoccupied (no one else in the team would fall for a trap so obvious), set off to find Sakura and Sasuke. He found Sakura unconicous, but set a genjutsu around her just in case she woke up before the test was over.<p>

While the young Uchiha was shocked that some half rate chunin could beat him he was beginning to realize that he brought arrogance onto the battle field without even knowing and that was a very costly mistake. It had been repeated many times in the academy that arrogance can get you killed, but he never paid much attention to the lectures. It was difficult for him to swallow his pride but he did with much difficulty. After his little moment, he ran to a hiding place as he heard someone approaching.

Kakashi had years of experience on the battle field, taking missions and his time within the ANBU corps and therefore had all the required training to be a silent killer. Purposefully he made just enough noise to alarm the genin of his presence, if of course, they were willing to listen. The masked jonin found a stump towards the far side of the clearing to sit on so he could continue his novel which he always held on his person. He kept abreast of Sasuke as any good ninja would.

Black coal eyes focused intently on the target before them. Sasuke knew that he had to find the perfect moment to strike and with his opponent being a high ranked jounin, he had to tread carefully. He quickly grabbed hold of a bundle of kunai and shrunken from their designated pouches and was quick to hold his arms in a ready throwing position; he waited patiently, breathing in slow, silent deep breaths. He took his opportunity to the moment where his sensei was turning a page. He held his breath then threw the weapons with all his might and all his trained accuracy.

As quickly as he threw the throwing blades he jumped from the branch in which he was hiding on. He gave a smirk when the weapons hit his teacher but his triumph wasn't long lived when the tall form of his sensei was replaced with a short, stumpy log. He gave off a short 'tsk' but before he could complain any further he felt the presence of his sensei behind him. Still a bit above the ground he released a fireball jutsu to delay Kakashi's impending onslaught. No longer desperate to get away he landed in his feet with a hard thump and turned to face his opponent.

As he was facing Kakashi, Sasuke knew he'd lost quite a good amount of time when facing the chunin of the group so his mind was starting to cloud with the stress of diminishing time. He ran towards Kakashi throwing his punches and kicks with a little less force and a bit more speed.

"Well I have to hand it to you, you are different from the others." The sensei drawled.

Arrogance was as hard to rid as anything else so Sasuke was satisfied by the comment and allowed the satisfaction to dawn on his face. Seeing the smug expression that grew on his students face he commented again,

"I never said that being different was better though."

This sent the blue clad ninja into another barrage of hits and for a brief second he was able to touch a bell. He gave another mumble of disappointment and he pushed himself away from the jounin as the jounin did the same with him. Too tired to realize, Kakashi was able to slip past Sasuke's defenses with an Earth jutsu that Sasuke had never heard of, too bad to because it left him neck deep in the ground.

"In battle, whther you are exhausted or missing a limb, you must always be aware of your opponent." With a flash of an eye smile and a puff of smoke, he was gone, back to the center of the field. Near by, he could hear Naruto struggling to get down from the trap Ichigo had set earlier. He casually strolled over and plucked the bell from the same spot Ichigo had left it.

"Never go for the obvious you idiot. Expect the unexpected or the next time, instead for roping around your foot it could take your foot off."

As casually as he strolled up he walked away, his face void of any emotion.

* * *

><p>Naruto was quite angry as he saw his sensei walk away with HIS bell. After a few minutes of struggling he was able to escape from the trap that held him above the ground. He laughed at his success but stopped due to the loud noise permeating the air. It was his stomach growling. He plastered a devious smile upon his face as an idea sprung into his head.<p>

'I'll just eat now, that way if I have to fight Kakashi-sensei again I'll be at full strength.'

He ran off to the three log posts to where the bento lunches were located. He sat upon the middle stump and started to dig into the heavenly bento box. As any hungry twelve year old would, Naruto was completely focused on his food so he didn't hear anyone approaching until the shadow loomed over his figure. He looked up to see none other than, according to Naruto, the annoying wanna-be sensei.

"Go away jerk! Can't you see I'm eating?"

An evil smirk twisted on to Ichigo's face and Naruto's vision went black.

Naruto had jolted awake and at first was confused at his predicament. He couldn't move his body nor his arms. Struggling then looking around he realized that he was tied to the log which he was previously sitting on.

'That damn strawberry! '

With nothing to do and nowhere to go he just sat, looking around the training field and at the sky. While he knew he had a short attention span and a wild temper, he wasn't stupid. He learned at a young age to grow aware of his surroundings and looking at the position of the sun he could tell that it was almost noon and the test was about over.

'Damn, why the hell am I sitting here trapped? I'm supposed to be a great ninja so I can become Hokage! How the hell are three genin supposed to get two bells from a full fledge jounin?'

Naruto sighed defeated, then the alarm run. He didn't have to wait to long before his teammates appeared from the trees to stand on either side of him. Sakura looked at him with pure hatred and Sasuke just gave him a superior smirk. Ichigo then showed up with Kakashi and the two stood in front of the three.

"Well I can't say that I'm surprised. I knew you all didn't have it in you."

The three didn't speak, they knew they did horrible and were ashamed of it.

"You all fail."

While the three had looks of shock upon their faces, they knew they had failed.

"ARG! That's not fair! I worked way too hard to fail! I am not going back to the academy!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

"Oh no. you misunderstand me Naruto." The masked ninja drawled. "You aren't going back to the academy, none of you are."

A feeling of hope admitted from Team seven, but it didn't last long, because that hope was crushed by their sensei's next statement.

"You three aren't even worthy to hold the title of ninja. You will be dropped from the program all together and will remain civilians for the rest of your lives."

No one expected that, excluding Ichigo. Kakashi had told him the same thing but it wasn't the same message he was trying to get across. When his brother told him this he was testing Ichigo's determination and his resolve. Right now Kakashi wanted to see if these three could let go of stereotypes and egos in order to work together as a team, to see if they can become true warriors.

"That's not fair!" Naruto yelled.

"Yea Kakashi sensei Naruto's right! We worked too hard to just let it all go!"

Sasuke just as mad as the others, looked at Kakashi with an intense glare and nodded in agreement with the other two. His anger got the best of him and he ran towards the jounin in anger. Kakashi gracefully pinned Sasuke to the ground still looking at the two in front of him.

"What makes you think that you can take me on by yourselves, do you underestimate the hard work that I went through to get to this level, and that any ninja has to go through? You guys are just a bunch of punks who don't even understand the meaning of this lesson. It's pathetic."

"Well what's the meaning then?" Naruto yelled

"Teamwork."

"But sensei, there are only two bells, how could we work as a team if we knew one of us had to fail?" Sakura yelled alongside Naruto.

"That is exactly the point, I purposely set you against one another to see if you can forget your own petty interest and work as a team. Obviously you didn't. I sent Ichigo out to gather what information he could about your strategies for this test, all the while trying to distract you. While this test is particularly hard for the average genin, I was going to assess your skills from this exercise and work your training schedules from there. I didn't expect you all to fail this miserably." Kakashi gave a nod to Ichigo and he began to relay the information he gathered.

"Sakura instead of helping Naruto you went off to find your precious Sasuke-kun. Naruto you didn't really think about what you were doing at all and just headed straight into danger. Sasuke from what I gathered you just thought you were the best one on this team and thought that you could accomplish the mission yourself, which you didn't. Each individual brings a unique point of view and skill into a team which helps create the perfect force to accomplish anything they're given."

After Ichigo's review Kakashi continued his speech.

"Working as an individual rather than a team can lead to disastrous results, especially when dealing with an enemy ninja. For example," Kakashi pulled a kunai from his leg pouch and held it against Sasuke's neck. "Sakura, kill Naruto or Sasuke dies."

"What?" the two screamed in unison.

"You see? Situations like this might appear, I as well as Ichigo have had to make tough decisions such as these when on missions." He rose from Sasuke and walked over to the memorial stone that lay within the center of the field, Ichigo accompanying him.

"All of these names. Just look at all of them. All of the people whose names are written on this stone are heroes of our village."

"That's it! I'll get my name written on that stone and I'll be the greatest hero of the village!" Naruto interrupted.

Ichigo turned and glared at the genin which shut him up immediately so Kakashi could continue to speak.

"All the people whose names are written on this stone are titled KIA. Killed in action. Those who have died in the line of duty are the greatest of our heroes. My best friend's name is written on this stone. . . Alright, since I'm feeling oh so gracious today, I'll give you another chance, but know this, if you give Naruto any of your food, you automatically waste your next chance and will receive further punishment from me." Kakashi said.

Ichigo took his cue to give both Sakura and Sasuke a bento box.

The two higher ranked ninja shared a nod and then disappeared from the younger students view. Naruto's stomach constantly growled in hunger as his teammates ate. Sasuke, deep down in his cold heart, felt sorry for Naruto and wanted to help his "almost" friend.

"Here." He held out the food for Naruto, "You need your strength as much as I do."

"No no Sasuke, Naruto can have my meal I'm on a diet anyway."

While Naruto was touched that his teammates were going to break the rules for him, he didn't want them wasting their next chance at becoming genin.

"Didn't you guys hear what sensei said? I mean not that I mind but still."

"You need your strength if we take on both sensei and Ichigo."

Both Sakura and Naruto nodded to their dark haired teammate, their motivation growing stronger.

"As a team." They said in unison. Sakura readied her chopsticks with a bundle of rice and fed Naruto. As soon as he took a bite Kakashi sprung from a burst of smoke.

"YOU! . . . Pass." The jounin said with an eye smile.

"Wha. . . What?"

"You pass. In fact I've never passed any team I've had, you all are the first. The others were just too stupid to pass, and just listened to whatever I said. A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules set by us ninja are trash, but those who don't care about their teammates, are worse than trash."

"YEA YEA I'm a ninja I did it!" His teammates rose from their respective spots and followed their sensei from the team seven training field, leaving Naruto tied to the stump.

"HEY WAIT! You forgot to untie me!"

Ichigo walked up from behind the genin and cut him loose from the stump leaving the genin to fall gracefully onto his face.

"Dammit berry-head, why do you always gotta do that?"

"Do what?" he said smirking.

"Always gotta do shit to me! I mean wha-"

"Shut it kid and listen. You got that spark in you, one that most people don't have, even I don't. I'm gunna try to help you throughout are years as a team as I think that Kakashi might favor Sasuke a bit. You'll go places kid, especially once you find your true purpose."

With that Ichigo left the training field, an inspired Naruto scrambling not far behind.

* * *

><p>Next time on A Bleached Slate: A day in the life of Team Seven<p> 


	7. Revision Notice

Bleached Slate Notice:

(6/18/2012)

I've gone through a lot in the past year and have just gotten the opportunity to get back into writing. All I can really do is apologize that it's taken me so long to notify you all.

I've re read this entire story and I've come to the realization that this isn't the best that I can do and I want to write a story that my readers deserve. After long consideration I'm thinking of revising this story into something greater than mediocre. I wish to add more of Ichigo's life with Kakashi before team seven, as well as the training he goes through to relearn all of his skills with Zangetsu along with how he goes through his own chunin exams. I might even have him on a genin squad instead of having private lessons with Hayate.

There is also the option to write Ichigo's early ninja life as a separate prequel but I want to know what you all think. Should I write a separate prequel or just add and change things within this fic?


End file.
